Managing lockdown rules ‘different for different people’ – Shapps

It is up to “individuals” to decide how to practise lockdown measures, Grant Shapps has said, and to decide how to make sure they have enough family support.

The Transport Secretary said it had always been permissible for families to travel to be closer to their relatives as long as they “go to that location and stay in that location”.

When challenged about the decision by the Prime Minister’s top aide Dominic Cummings to travel more than 260 miles to return to his family home after his wife started displaying coronavirus symptoms, Mr Shapps said it was “the best possible option” for the family.

Mr Shapps said on Saturday: “It’s for an individual to make the decision: ‘How do I make sure I’ve got enough support around the family?’

“Particularly in the case you are referring to, with a potential of both parents ending up being ill and having a young child to look after – how do you have that support network around them?”

Mr Shapps continued: “The decision here was to go to that location and stay in that location.

“They don’t then need to move around from there and so it would be for each individual to work out the best way to do that, which is what’s happened here.”

Dominic Cummings leaving his north London home carrying his son’s bike on Saturday (Aaron Chown/PA)

Deputy chief medical officer Jenny Harries added that travelling during the shutdown was and always had been permissible if “there was an extreme risk to life”.

She said there was a “safeguarding clause” attached to all the advice to prevent vulnerable people being stuck at home with no support.

Guidance published by the Government at the start of the lockdown listed the circumstances in which a person may leave their home, stating this was permissible:

– For work, where you cannot work at home;

– When going to shops that are permitted to be open – to get things like food and medicine;

– To exercise or spend time outdoors;

– For any medical need, including to donate blood, avoid illness or injury, escape risk of harm, or to provide care or help to a vulnerable person.